By : Rudolph Lungile Mabece

AARTO has a long history that started with the Administrative Adjudication of Road Offences Act No. 46 of 1998. It gained prominence with the introduction of the AARTO Amendment Bill that became the AARTO Amendment Act No.4 of 2019. What matters most is for the public to properly understand what AARTO is, beyond the acronyms. This short article intends to do just that.

WHAT IS AARTO ?

AARTO is an acronym used with reference to the Act, as amended in accordance with the introduction. This Act seeks to promote road quality by providing for a scheme to discourage road traffic contraventions. It also seeks to facilitate the adjudication of road traffic infringements instead of going through court processes as has been historically the case for most infringements and offences. The Act also seeks to support the prosecution of offences in terms of the national and provincial laws relating to road traffic, implement a points demerit system and introduce National Road Traffic Offences Register as well as other matters not necessary to mention for the purposes of this article.

HOW DOES AARTO APPLY?

AARTO applies by encouraging compliance with the national and provincial laws  and municipal by-laws relating to road traffic and to promote road safety. It therefore applies to laws including, the National Road Traffic Act, 1996, Cross Border Road Transport Act, 1998 and National Land Transport Act, 2009, as well the provincial road traffic laws, in provinces where these exists as well as municipal by-laws relating to traffic and parking.

The Act further encourages payment of penalties imposed for infringements and allow for the making of representations under certain circumstances , including for minor infringements as well as where the real owner of the registered vehicle receives an infringement for illegal registration plate clones and many more situations.

AARTO further provides for guaranteed discounts for holder of South African driving licences if they pay their fines within 32 days of their receipt of the infringement notice. Demerit point system applies in addition to fines or imprisonment and the accumulation of demerit points to reach 15 leads to suspension of driving licence and professional driving permit for professional drivers. The suspension extends to operator cards for the operators. The third accumulation of 15 points leads to cancellation of a driving licence and disqualification to apply and hold a driving licence for 5 years. Demerit points also apply to operators and to juristic persons, whose drivers accumulate demerit points under certain circumstances.

IMPLICATIONS OF AARTO DEMERIT POINT SYSTEM AND THE LISTING OF INFRINGERS IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER FOR ROAD TRAFFIC OFFENCES

Every infringement or offence is recorded in the National register for Road Traffic Offences. The implications of being registered includes the fact that an employer of potential employer may want to have access to your records before considering whether to employ you or not. This is equivalent to the current listing in the credit bureau, and that will definitely change how people view road traffic infringements. The listing may even lead to employers starting to view it as a business risk for all employees whose job profile require them to have valid driving licences.

The most significant implications of the demerit point system is getting a large percentage of the about 15 million holders of driving licences being disqualified to drive for three months or more. The implications to job security, work performance as well as supply chain logistics is such that road logistics business may not be able to meet their targets or contracted obligations due to drivers whose driving licences and professional driving permits have been suspended or cancelled. This applies to public transport as well from minibus taxi-type services, e-hailing, scholar transport and buses. Public passenger road transport and road logistics businesses account for over 80% of movement in South Africa. The implications of the demerit points system may be so dire as to disrupt the economy in a major way that has never been experienced before Covid-19 lockdown and after.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

Government needs to do more than just placing a poster during news bulletins to alert the public that AARTO is now applicable in 62 municipalities. RTIA needs to be involved in all media platforms conscientizing the public about the implications of AARTO and address various elements to enable the public to appreciate what AARTO is really is.

All the employers need to pay attention to what AARTO implementation means for their businesses and procure funding from the sector education and training authorities (SETAs) or National Skills Fund to fund capacitation of employees on AARTO. Businesses that have money to immediately mitigate the risk need to do so without delay. The banks and insurance businesses may consider it prudent to fund capacitation, not only of their employees but those they fund or insure.

Where government and business do not act as suggested, each person has a personal responsibility to be capacitated on AARTO to save his job or business.

South Africa is not ready for AARTO implementation but same is necessary to bring order and save lives on our roads.